Tibetan government-in-exile president Dr Lobsang Sangay on Saturday called on the Chinese government to allow Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo who has been…
Representational Image (Photo: Wikimedia Images)
Tibetan government-in-exile president Dr Lobsang Sangay on Saturday called on the Chinese government to allow Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo who has been diagnosed with late-stage cancer to travel aboard for medical treatment.
Sangay expresses concern over Chinese Nobel Peace Laureate Liu Xiaobo’s tragic cancer diagnosis and said, he was at the same time relieved to learn of his release on medical parole.
“I urge the Chinese government to grant Liu Xiaobo and his family immediate permission on humanitarian grounds to travel abroad for medical treatment,” he said. He said he was inspired by the growing number of true democrats like Liu Xiaobo in China. “The tide of democracy is gradually touching the shores of China and I am optimistic that Liu Xiaobo‘s vision of a truly democratic China will be realised soon in the near future,” he said.
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Besides Sangay, diplomats from the across the world including the United States, Germany and the European Union have called upon China for Liu Xiaobo to be allowed to travel abroad for medical treatment. At least 154 Nobel laureates across the six Nobel disciplines have also urged Chinese President Xi Jinping in an open letter to allow Nobel peace prize laureate Liu Xiaobo and his wife Liu Xia to travel to the United States for medical treatment.
Liu Xiaobo (61) was arrested in 2008 after writing a pro-democracy manifesto called Charter 08 in which he called for an end to one-party rule and improvements in human rights. Following a year in detention and a two-hour trial, he was sentenced to 11 years in December 2009 for inciting subversion of state power.
On 26 June 2017, he was granted medical parole after being diagnosed with terminal liver cancer.
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